LifeSize Brings Consumer Interface to Business Video Conferencing with Icon

LifeSize has debuted its Icon video conferencing series, which takes a page from consumer smartphones to offer a new user interface design aimed at bolstering intuitive simplicity. The line is available through the company’s channel partners.

The video conferencing market is entering a transitional phase. As mobile, cloud and virtualization technologies take hold, they’re fundamentally changing how video communication works. Much as the introduction of the smartphone dramatically changed how people engaged with their mobile phones, LifeSize is wanting to do the same with the introduction of what it calls “smart video.”

“This series is the culmination of years of user-behavior research and corresponding purposeful design to alleviate common barriers to adoption that have plagued the video conferencing industry,” the company noted, adding that the goal is to eliminate training, for one thing.

“Making a video call should not involve pressing a dozen buttons, deciphering a complicated remote control and navigating through an intimidating user interface,” said Colin Buechler, CEO at LifeSize. “It is those barriers, along with outrageous cost and an overwhelming burden on IT, that have dissuaded businesses from fully adopting video collaboration. The Icon Series puts the experience back in the hands of the users and the complicated technology disappears. LifeSize Icon Series is reinventing video conferencing by answering the call of what this industry has needed since its inception: a radically simplified user experience that any organization can embrace. That’s smart video.”

On the IT side, the LifeSize Icon series is integrated with the LifeSize UVC Platform and its applications, including streaming and recording, firewall traversal, multiparty video calling and management.

“The UI of the LifeSize Icon Series is unlike any I’ve seen on a video conferencing system,” said Robert Arnold, program manager for unified communications and collaboration at Frost and Sullivan. “It’s slick, icon-driven design just makes sense for an optimal user experience. I expect that there is tremendous market opportunity for this solution, especially at its attractive price point. For companies that have traditionally rejected video due to its cost and complexity, I would recommend a closer look at the LifeSize Icon Series.”